[Restaurant Review] Cantler’s Riverside Inn – Annapolis, MD

If you don’t like to WAIT to be seated and/or if you are a clean freak, don’t go to this restaurant!

Quintessential Maryland experience! If you had one day in MD, what would you do? Go get blue crabs! Cover the table with some paper and get messy in lots of old bay!

For that reason, there are quite a few “crabhouses” in MD. Some are decent, and some are terrible. I’ve been to several and THIS IS IT! It is legit!

Cantler’s Riverside Inn. As I warned up there, expect LOTS OF waiting. We got there around 5:30. It took 30 minutes just to get a parking spot and got seated at about 7:10. Was it worth the wait in the heat? YES!

While waiting for a parking spot, one of you can actually get out and walk to the restaurant and put your name in the waiting list to somewhat shorten the “process”. They give you a little beeper so you can stare at it for the next 1.5 hours till it buzzes. 😉 Actually, it wasn’t that bad. As you can see in the picture, they are right by the river with the pier. People actually dock their boats and hang out there until they get a table too. You see the guys measuring crabs and separate them right there too. I totally wish we would’ve brought some old bread to feed the ducks. Time would have gone by faster. Who knows. Maybe take your scrabble board. 🙂

Once you get a table, the server asks, “Paper for crabs?” And your answer is “NOW!” It differs day to day but this weekend they had medium/large/x-large crabs. They have other seafood dishes as well but blue crabs are the way to go. Crabs are not served with any sides FYI. We got a dozen medium crabs, hushpuppies, corn on the cob, and onion rings (they are very, very delicious and I don’t even like them usually). The crabs are served with vinegar, butter, and extra old bay on the side but honestly the crabs are so fresh that you don’t even need anything else! I’ve been to Maine Ave. Fishmarket in D.C. for steamed crabs as well but the medium-sized crabs at this restaurant were VERY BIG! I think 10 crabs would have been enough with the sides that we ordered and they totally let you do that as well – 1 or 10. Even if you don’t know what to do with those steamed creatures, no worries. Servers are just down-to-earth and show you how to get that nice, juicy meat out of the shell very kindly!

Cantler’s is in a very remote, residential neighborhood so don’t let your hubby or bf get too cocky and go “I got this. I know where I’m going” because he doesn’t! Turn your GPS on and find this hidden gem for great crab feast!